Level vial



Feb. 3, 1953 w. e. MOYER arm. 2,627,122

LEVEL VIAL File d Fb. 1.1952

INVENTORS.

141.1417 6. moms/e 2a; PH 9. mars/e,

Patented Feb. 3, 1953 LEVEL VIAL William G. Meyer and Ralph A. MoyenParkers Landing, Pa., assignors to W. A. Moyer & Sons, Parkers Landing, Pa., a partnership ()riginal application June 10, 1949, Serial No. 98,315. Divided and this application February 1, 1952, Serial No. 269,436

2 Claims. 1

This invention relates to sealed vials containing liquid and a bubble, such as are used in various levels, carpenters tools and the like.

Tubes of the type referred to are widely used, and as heretofore manufactured, one end of a piece of glass tubing is fused completely shut, while the other end is drawn into a point or protrusion with a small orifice running therethrough for the purpose of introducing the liquid into the vial. After the vial has been filled with a proper amount of liquid, this point or protrusion has been sealed by melting it in a gas flame.

This point, projecting as it does from the end of the tube, increases the overall length of the tube, and any instrument made to accommodate the tube or vial must have sufficient clearance to provide not only for the vial, but for this point or protrusion. Moreover, the ends of the vials are usually mounted in the tool by surrounding the ends with plaster of Paris, which sets to hardness after the vial has been properly located in position in the tool. As the plaster hardens, it frequently subjects the pointed end to stress and strains, which cause this fragile point to break, destroying the vial and requiring its replacement. Even though the plaster may not initially cause breakage of the point, any severe shock, such as might result from dropping the tool, will frequently result in this point being broken, rendering the tool useless, and causing considerable loss of time and expense for replacing the vial.

Recognizing that the point is a vulnerable part of the vial, the trade has demanded that the points he kept as short as possible, in order to increase the strength of the vials, and in order that the length of the usable portion of the vial may be as great as possible. In other words, by shortening the point, the clearance required for accommodating this otherwise useless length of the vial can be eliminated. The shortening of the point, however, introduces considerable difficulty in the manufacture of the vial. Since the point has to be sealed by means of a flame, the short point necessitates bringing the fiame close to the body of the vial. This causes the vaporizable liquid in the vial to vaporize. The vapor coming out through the open end of the tube has sufilcient pressure to keep the orifice from sealing, and the bubble which has initially been formed to a standard size enlarges, due to the loss of some of the liquid in this way.

Considerable effort has heretofore been spent in trying to solve this problem. A large part of the vials which are used are sold for a few cents each, so that the vials must be cheap to produce, there must not be excessive loss in manufacture, and the bubbles must be of substantially uniform size and accuracy.

The object of the present invention is to eliminate this protrusion at the end of the tube and provide a method of sealing the tube which is equally effective, relatively inexpensive, and adapted to mass production operations.

According to our invention, the end of the vial is closed, except for a small orifice. Metal is fused to the glass adjacent this orifice, and after the tube has been scaled, a small drop of solder is fused tothe metal. This solder is relatively fiat against the end of the tube, reducing the overall length of the tube. There is no protrusion such as to cause strain when the vial is embedded in plastic, and the vials are far less susceptible to injury from mechanical shock.

Our invention may be more fully understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 shows a side elevation of a level vial made in accordance with our invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional view illustrating the sealing of the filling opening in one end of the vial; and

Fig. 3 is an elevation of the vial illustrating the mounting of the metal filling tube in the end of the vial.

Referring to the drawings, and particularly to Figs. 1 to 3, the vial is made from preformed tubing. The less expensive vials have an overall curvature from end to end, while the more expensive tubes have the exterior straight, and are ground to provide a longitudinally curved interior. Fig. 1 shows a vial which is curved inside and out, the vial being designated 2. It is closed at one end, as indicated at 3, and the other end 4a is sealed shut.

According to the preferred embodiment of our invention, a length of glass tubing is closed at one end 3 by means of gas flames in the usual manner. The other end is subjected to the action of gas flames in a similar manner, the glass being heated up While it is being rotated. The surface tension of the glass and the pressure of the flame causes the glass to flow inwardly across the end of the tube. When the tube is almost closed, a blast of cool air is blown against it so that the end wall 4a has a small orifice 5a therethrough, which in practice is large enough to receive a metal tube with an inner opening perhaps around one-thirty-second of an inch in diameter.

According to the preferred embodiment of the invention, the end of the tube is formed with a small opening as previously described. A metal tube 8 of small diameter is then inserted in the opening, the metal being a metal to which the glass will fuse. The glass is fused to this small opening while the tube is empty in the end of the vial with its outer end flush with the end wall of the Vial. After the vial has been filled with a liquid, a drop of solder 9 is then fused to the end of the metal tube to make a liquid-tight seal. This procedur of providing a metal surface to which the solder may be secured is somewhat more expensive than the procedure described in our copending application Serial No. 98,315, filed June 10, 1949, of which this application is a division.

By the use of a metal tube for sealing the vial, an effective closing of the vial may be readily obtained by the use of the ordinary metal solder.

Referring again to Fig. 1, the body of the liquid within the tube is designated l0, and II is the bubble.

While We have shown and described certain preferred embodiments of our invention, it will be understood that the invention is not restricted to the particular construction of tube shown, and that various modifications may be made within the contemplation of our invention and under the scope of the following claims.

We claim:

1. A level vial comprising an elongated cylindrical longitudinally curved glass body containing a body of liquid and a gas bubble, one end of the body being closed with a flat glass wall, the

other end of the body having a flat glass wall with a metal tube fused into an opening in said end wall in contact with a metal ceramic flux when the glass body is empty, the diameter of the hole in vthe metal tube bein smaller than the diameter of a bead of metal solder when the solder is molten, and a bead of solder applied in molten condition to and united with the metal tube to close the opening therein when the glass body contains the body of liquid.

2. A level vial comprising an elongated cylindrical longitudinally curved glass body containing a body of liquid and a gas bubble, one end of the body being closed with a flat glass wall, the other end of the body having a flat glass wall with a small opening therein, a metallic tube filling the opening with its outer end flush with the end wall of the vial and fused to the glass of the end wall by heat while the tube is empty to make a liquid-tight seal between the glass and the outside of the metallic tube, the inner diameter of the openin in the metallic tube being smaller than a bead of solder when in a molten condition, and a bead of solder united to the outer end of the metallic tube to close the tube after the vial is filled with liquid.

WILLIAM G. MOYER.

RALPH A. MOYER.

REFERENCES CITED lChe following references are of record in the file of this patent:

FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 534,255 England Jan. 7, 1941 579,232 England Jan. 9, 1942 

